Making cupcakes

Inspired by Lisa Clark. Raspberry Lemonade and French Vanilla Oh La La

Chocolate Flourless Cake

In the mood for a decadent chocolate dessert that is Gluten free? This is your match! This rich cake is like the moistest brownie you will ever have. Perfect for a Sweet heart dessert or an Anniversary celebration! It takes a little more time to prepare but worth it!

Most people don't have a convection oven so I made a make shift one. Filling a hotel pan with hot water and setting my oven             * Pre heat 300 degrees

While the oven  preheats I prepare my pans.I decided to do individuals,you can also use a 9'inch cheesecake spring form pan.I line the bottom with parchment and place them on a baking sheet.

Then I melt on med heat my butter and chocolate in a double boiler.In the meantime I whip{by hand} my eggs and sugar until thick and wait to incorporate the melted chocolate and egg mixtures. *Be careful to not over mix because it can souffle your cake.

Then your ready to bake. Bake 20 min the rotate and bake additional 15 min. the top will shrink after cooling and may be a little uneven.

 

Pull them out, let cool for 20 min. then refrigerate over night before removing them from pan (s). Once removed  and cold you can slice the top to make it even. I decided to dust the top with powder sugar but it is wonderful with ganache on it too!

 

My Ratios

 

9.25 oz sugar

7 whole eggs

 

2 sticks of butter plus 1.5 tbsp.

9.25 oz  60% Cacao Chocolate

 

I'm back

 

 

 

 

Can you believe I'm alive? After a long time without a blog who would of thought I would start again...I came close to deleting it but with lots of  personal struggles and changes since my last post enduring life's darkness I came to realize that during the healing process you have to find inner peace and identity.My blog reminded me when I was happy............. sharing my art and love of baking with others.

In the past year and a half I have had some sucess' along the rough ride. Kansas was good to me I graduated the Pastry and Baking Program at Johnson County under the hard hand of Chef Doug Flick.I never blogged about my accomplishment because I didn't even think I was going to finish.

Just before graduating  I start working under Lisa Clark Pastry chef and owner of

Cupcake A LA Mode

I learned a lot about production and design. I threw myself into work so I could get through my trials.Along the way I meet lots of fun people and made some good friends!

 

I had so much fun making specialty cupcakes and managing the shop on the country club plaza in Kansas City. Leaving it was hard.

 

Now that I'm back in California I hoping to get back into the field soon but in the mean time I'm taking sometime to bake, heal and enjoy the sunshine :)

 

 

 

Back to the drawing board......

Update

Well with my personal hour glass speedily coming to an end {end of May to be exact}. I have be waging war with many possibilities for Shabby and where to make it happen. I'm not going to lie last week I might of told you I'm no longer interested in being a baker or that I'm going to do something completely off the wall instead.
Like with any struggling artist/passion {ist} you will have many moment of insanity. I thankfully kicked myself in the butt and dusted the chocolate off my chef's jacket and is finding {that is still in the process} a new ray of light. Last week I decided to quit my beloved Dean and Deluca. Many people first reaction is WHY? Then.... well what are you going to do now? My answer? I do not know!
All I know is that I need some time to melt down and temper and remolding myself. Anyone in this industry know you don't do it for the money this is clearly not the issue. It does take lots to get started. My worst enemy at the moment is location! My heart and soul is in California but my head and reasonableness {when present} is here in Johnson County KS.
With many supporter {you know who you are}I'll be making a final decision soon. Sticking to the final decision will be the hard part.

Puppy Love

Confectionery arts has been fun. We have made things out of chocolate,molding chocolate and this past week marzipan. I made 3 doggies...they came out okay I know if I practiced more that I would of made them better!
My Chef made some petite fours and as a joke he made some of them with L on them {Like my jacket! :) } He also made sugar flowers. We will be doing sugar pulling later in the semester.

{Beautiful!}

Visiting Chef Series

This week at school we had an opportunity to sit in on the first visiting chef series at JCCC. The Charming Chef Michael Smith was talking about Tapas and demoing several recipes. His life experiences and travels were inspiring! Some of his favorite foods are not any of mine like roasted rabbit brains and blood sausage just to name a couple.
He gave all the recipes that he made that night. My favorite was Chickpea Salad 'Pinotxo' Style

Makes 4 quarts
1 quart cooked chickpeas
1/3 cup white raisins-soaked in water for 20 min-then chopped
1 piece Morcilla sausage-peeled and minced
1 whole onion-fine diced and sauteed 1 min
1/4 cup toasted pistachios- rough chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Sherry Vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Method

cook chickpeas in salted water until soft 3-4 hours.Mix all remaining ingredients together.Adjust acidity and salt and pepper.

heart stopping week....

On Wednesday I created a Love statue made out of ALL Chocolate! It was really fun but messy. I love the whole love note thing and the question of Be Mine. I carved the hearts out of white chocolate and sign is made of Almond paste {the only exception to All Chocolate}.


Thursday the production for the BIG weekend started with dozens of Tuxedo Chocolate dipped strawberries and lots of love filled recipes...I was so busy that I really could get too many pictures! Our Cases was probably the most beautiful it has ever been!

We had so many item it was almost too much to fill of two cases! It would lie if I didn't say it that there was stress and a small amount of tears{from me...I was truly exhausted this week and having a hell of a time with writing chocolate! There was also some creative differences that can be frustrating!}

But all in all we came together and kicked butt and had a steady line out the door for about an hour! Thank goodness I'm off to a new production list {makes it interesting}.

Cheesecakes and Othellos

Well this week in school I had Cheesecakes, Othellos and Rosemary bread.
I chose to do a plain cheesecake this week....next week I'm thinking raspberry white chocolate?We'll see.
To play with my Chef I told him that my signature L would be the design on the Othellos...He wasn't amused!

No worries this is what they looked like. I really like these ...french macaroons sandwiched with mocha buttercream dipped in chocolate.
It was a strange week but I made it through I'm hoping to get through this winter slump and start kicking butt!LOL

Lavender Lemon Meringue Tart

A Tribute to one of my favorites... Lemon Meringue, I haven't had much luck in making a good one. This one is the closest to what I'd sell though I think there is a few more things that need tweeking.

A new and fun crust for me is to make a standard sweet pastry dough and roll it out with graham cracker crumbs. It adds a lot of texture without being too grahamy {for a lack of a better word}.
I used a 9" tart pan ...blind baking my crust on 350 for 10 mins. I don't use pie weights I just put holes with a knife before baking..seems to keep it in its shape.
I had received lots of fabulous Gourmet Lavender items like Lav Sugar, Honey and Dark Chocolate from a beautiful little store called Pelindaba lavender. I decided to incorporate Lavender to my meringue tart.
To start the curd process I heated to a simmer 2 cup of sugar, 1/2 c. of cornstarch, 1/2 tsp of fine sea salt and 3 cups of cold water and brought it to a simmer.{It turn translucent}


Then I added 12 egg yolks, 2 Tbsp of lemon zest, 2 tsp of Lavender, a cup of fresh lemon juice and 4 tablespoon of butter. One it was thick and looks like a curd take off heat and place plastic wrap over it.

Then make your Meringue-

4 egg whites,1/2 c. of sugar plus 2 Tbsp. and 1/2 tsp. of cream of tarter in your kitchen aid with your whip until full stiff peaks



Fill with warm curd and spoon on meringue. Bake for 20mins on 325.
Viola! It is very good! The flavor and smell is intoxicating... I just want it to be a bit tarter and thicker but that is a personal taste.

Bacon and Chocolate?

I got this wonderful care package from my sister... full of fabulous goodies! Along with lots of my staple favorites like red wine and sea salted dark chocolate was some fun stuff to try.
I was very intrigued when I saw Mo's Bacon Bar ...Hummm I thought. I know I like the whole bacon maple combo...so why not chocolate? Some things do not work this one being one! It was terrible! I'm blogging about it to warn you that bacon especially bit like pieces are not good with chocolate.. Fun to try but do not buy! Thanks Lorie I loved everything else :)

{ I think Abby agrees}